BAHGDAD (Dispatches) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi announced a June 2027 deadline for the disarmament of the country’s resistance factions in comments released Monday, extending a previous deadline which had been set for the end of this month. 
The announcement came in an interview with the New York Times (NYT), during which Zaidi detailed the disarmament plan that Washington has been pushing so heavily for. 
“This is not something that is optional. It is a necessity. Others who spoke of this then backtracked. They yielded to pressure or to other concerns. For me, this issue, along with that of corruption, is a matter of honor,” the Iraqi premier told NYT. 
“We wish to build bridges and economic ties between Iraq and the countries of the world. Under this government, Iraq will be a meeting point, not a point of hostility. Arms have to be confined first so you can build a solid economy,” he added. 
Zaidi had previously announced a September 30 deadline to disarm the Iraqi factions. Yet the deadline was firmly rejected by the resistance, leading to the extension. 
“There would first be a 90-day period during which the militias would not launch any attacks and be assured that they would not be attacked by U.S. forces,” Zaidi said to NYT.
“After that, the [factions] would begin handing over their weapons, with disarmament ending by June 30, 2027.”
According to NYT, the resistance is “pushing” to have the deadline extended to the end of next year. The newspaper refers to the new date as ambitious. 
“The timeline is extremely precarious” and “impossible to meet during a time of war,” regional diplomats and Iraqi security officials are quoted as saying by the outlet. 
Zaidi claims the plan will ensure the resistance factions “cease to exist as independent entities.”
“They will join the Popular Mobilization Units as individuals and integrate into them,” he went on to say. 
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has adopted a significantly more coercive approach than its predecessors to disarming the Iraqi resistance, stepping up pressure on Baghdad in recent months to dismantle the resistance factions swiftly.
Washington reportedly froze security programs with Baghdad and blocked dollar shipments to the country earlier this year to pressure Iraq into dismantling resistance groups.
Iraqi resistance groups have demanded a full U.S. withdrawal, rather than the “transitional” pullout agreed on between the U.S. and Iraq, which will see Washington shift from a “combat” to an “advisory” role, while still retaining a military presence in the country.
At the height of the illegal U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, the resistance groups inflicted heavy damage on U.S. assets in Iraq.
They have also supported Gaza militarily throughout the Israeli genocide and have carried out operations in response to Israeli war crimes in Lebanon.